Thurman Burleson & Sons Farm

Cotton Farm

A 3rd generation farmer, Ronnie owns Thurman Burleson & Sons Farm along with his brother Dennis, son Andrew, and nephew Aaron.

Ronnie continues his father’s cutting edge farming techniques and practices; he and his family were the first to bring cotton back to the Piedmont region in 1991, having left the area 40+ years before because of the boll weevil.

Of the 3400 acres that make up Ronnie’s farm, 2000 of it is cotton, the rest a mix of corn and soybeans.

Rolling Hills Gin

Cotton Gin

After the resurgence of cotton in the Piedmont region of NC, started by his uncle Ronnie Burleson, Wes and 4 branches of his family pooled their resources and created Rolling Hills Gin in 1996 to fill the need for local farmers.

Because ginning is only performed during the harvest months, only 4 people are employed fulltime at Rolling Hills, including Wes. The rest of the employees work from October through December, but do so 12 hours/day, 6 days a week minimum.

Hill Spinning

Yarn Spinner

Hill Spinning is a family owned and operated spinning mill that specializes in spinning cotton yarn. Hill’s operational philosophy is simple but effective: buy good cotton and don’t screw it up.

Mark Leonard is a 3rd generation owner of Hill. He believes in a slow, paced, deliberate approach to cleaning and spinning, which produces a high quality, even, strong, but still very soft yarn.

Contempora Fabrics

Fabric Knitter

Contempora Fabrics was founded in 1972 by Lacy C. Nance. In 1984, the company transitioned to 40% employee-owned via an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP), then went 100% ESOP in 1988.

Contempora considers its 150 owners/employees its most important asset, and attributes its growth to its highly skilled workforce and modern equipment.

TS Designs

Print / Dye

TS Designs is a screen printing business founded in 1977 by Tom Sineath.

Once catering to the big apparel brands (Nike, Tommy, Polo, GAP, etc.), TS Designs changed its business model and mission after seeing the destructive effects of NAFTA and globalization on its industry.

TSD now provides unique, American-made printed t-shirts, including Cotton of the Carolinas, a shirt grown and made entirely in North and South Carolina.